Study claims most parties treat local election with derision

LOCAL elections are treated “with derision” by most political parties because of the lack of power at city, county and town council level, a new study has found.

The bulk of influence continues to rest at national level with the Government, because of failure to devolve real decision-making powers to local authorities. As a result, local elections tend to be treated contemptuously by parties, according to two academics who have produced a new study of the issue.

“Since local government has remained comparatively weak in the modern history of the Irish state, local elections have often been treated with scorn or derision by the political parties,” write Dr Liam Weeks and Dr Aodh Quinlivan of UCC in their book, All Politics is Local: A Guide to Local Elections in Ireland.